Question What's the best way to use m.2 NVMe SSDs for my aging motherboard?

[Zeze]

I've been so out of the game. I have a very old then-budget system that's still chugging along.

i7-3770
ASRock H61M/UI3S3
16 gigs of DDR3
250 SSD via SATA
1 TB HDD via SATA

I really need space and want to ditch that HDD. I think my motherboard can use M.2 adapter to use the latest NVMe SSDs.

What's the best option?
1. PCIE to M.2 expansion card
2. SATA to M.2 adapter
3. A third better option?

I think 1 is best and 2 is still bottlenecked by AHCI. Can you recommend me a good one?

 

[Tech Junky]

I'd have the dig but, I don't think it's economical to do NVME on a 3 series CPU setup.

Look at the specs for the board for the pcie slots you have open. You'll want a slot that hits gen3 x4 to get the benefit of the speed beyond 6gbps you get with SATA.

 

[JackMDS]

These would properly be better solution for less money.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071Z2BNVQ

 

[Tech Junky]

These would properly be better solution for less money.

Kind of what I was thinking w/o more info. Under $100/TB is a decent enough starting point for an SSD of either flavor.

@Zeze
- 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot (blue @ x16 mode)
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot
- 2 x PCI slots

ASRock > H61M/U3S3

ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time), 100% Japan made high quality conductive polymer capacitors; Supports Intel K-Series CPU; Supports Dual Channel DDR3 1600; Supports Intel HD Graphics 2000/3000; Graphics Output Options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI; 2 USB 3.1 Gen1, 2 SATA3; Supports ASRock XFast...

www.asrock.com

So, if you're using a GPU in the X16 it's a waste of time and money unless you're planning on building a new machine in the near future.

If it's just storage space then I would go with the SN770 as they're right at that $100/TB mark and hit their speed ratings / gen4 drives when you upgrade. I use one in a TB4 enclosure and one inside my laptop for additional storage. They're a bit quirky compared to some other drives but, they beat more expensive options in the enclosure considerably.

 

[Tech Junky]

Another concern....

- 4 x SATA2 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions
- 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors

You have a mix of SATA ports on the board for varying speeds. Not that it should make much difference with a spinner but, with an SSD you'll want to make sure you're using the appropriate port / cable on the 2 6gbps ports or you'll see 1/2 the potential speed from the drives.

 

[Tech Junky]

Now, if you want to get creative and budget isn't as much of a concern....

You could add a PCIE USB 10 or 20 gbps card
- 10g - ~$20
- 20g - ~$30

Enclosure
-10g - ~$20
-20g -~$40

So, for $40-$70 you could get the speed from the drive and port the card over to your new system when it's time. 1250mbps / 2500mbps still won't max out the drive like TB @ 40gbps but, it's a decent bump from the SATA speeds.

The other option comes in the form of HBA or NVME on a PCIE board. This also doesn't make sense unless you're not using the X16 slot but, can bypass the limitations of the SATA ports with direct CPU access and all ports running at 6gbps. The NVME cards though can be a bit of an ordeal to deal with if you're not careful about which controller you're using. There are others though on the very cheap side that don't bother with much on the board and let the slot take care of the data instead. If you wanted to run multiple NVME drives then you need something with a PLX switch on it and those start out at ~$500 just for the card but, some of them will offer up to 8 slots for drives to be used in but, the trade off is the speed is limited usually to gen3 x4 and is a bottleneck.

 

[Zeze]

What I decided to do is buy a $9 adapter for my new 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD.

Now I'll enjoy the drive with gimped speeds, but when I DO upgrade the mobo, the SSD won't be a slow SATA one.

Thank you all for your input!